1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a measurement methods and systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for measuring the weight of a vehicle and its load using the Tire Pressure Monitoring System and the Auto-Leveling Technology already installed on many vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tires are very important to vehicles as they cushion the vehicle over surface irregularities, provide sufficient traction for driving and braking, and provide adequate steering control and direction stability. However, the most important feature of tires is that they support the weight of the vehicle and its load. The overloading of a vehicle can cause instability and accident that is of concern in all vehicles and especially a concern in large commercial vehicles. Overloading of a vehicle of any kind puts massive strain on vehicle tires and makes it less stable, difficult to steer and takes longer to stop. Unfortunately, most weighing systems require the use of external hardware and data acquiring devices.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,765 issued Dec. 10, 1996 to Kleehammer teaches a system and method of monitoring the load and emissions of a tractor/trailer rig remotely while it is moving.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,224 issued Oct. 13, 1998 to Nakanishi et al. teaches a load monitoring system for monitoring the loads of a plurality of dump trucks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,409 issued Mar. 9, 1999 to Hartman teaches a vehicle weight sensor mounted within a trunnion shaft of a single point trunnion suspension system for use on trailers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,959,259 issued Sept. 28, 1999 to Beshears et al teaches a system and method for determining the weight and speed of a vehicle as it passes over at least two separate spaced apart transducers mounted on a highway.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,741 issued Dec. 7, 1999 to Beshears et al teaches a system and method for determining the weight and speed of a vehicle as it passes over at least two separate spaced apart transducers mounted on a highway.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2003/0154798 published Aug. 21, 2003 to Weyand et al. teaches a method of monitoring a vehicle's weight using add-on hardware comprising at least one weight sensor and at least one data processing unit.
Therefore, there continues to be a need to provide an efficient method of determining overloading of a vehicle that does not require the use of external scales. This is especially true of private vehicles which are seldom if ever taken to commercial scales to determine whether their load puts the vehicle in an overloaded condition.